Friday Cocktail Hour: Rye Whiskey Smash

With Derby Day upon us, our annual excuse to start drinking bourbon early on a Saturday, I must of course give a nod to a great cocktail, the mint julep—bourbon, sweetened, flavored and garnished with mint. My pal Blake Bailey, who introduced me to the drink one ill-fated spring day long ago (read about that day in his gripping new memoir The Splendid Things We Planned) would insist on crushed ice and I wouldn’t disagree, especially if you have swell julep glasses.

After cursory and unsatisfactory poking around, it seems that smashes were drinks containing muddled herbs and sugar; they were popular in the mid-1800s; in Virginia they were considered an acceptable morning cocktail; some sources insist that fruit be muddled as well; some sources refer to them as junior versions of the julep; others as more bracing versions of the julep; some suggest topping with seltzer.

Given their origins more than 150 years ago and their popularity and strength, it would seem likely that this is why we have the term getting “smashed.”

I’ve given my version of the julep before (see ill-fated day, linked above), seriously pulverizing the mint with a pestle adding the bourbon, then straining over ice in a double old-fashioned glass. An even purer version of the julep would be to infuse the bourbon with mint so the alcohol didn’t turn green, then strain over crushed ice. And I would rename my mint julep a bourbon mint smash and garnish with lemon.

And in thinking about smashes (and wanting very much to try the tequila ginger-chilli smash the Globe writes about), I offer here an alternative Derby Day cocktail, the Rye Whiskey Smash, with mint and cherries. And yes, they’re meant to be strong (the race goes by in a flash).

And, given my determination to know terms definitively, I would also like to submit a definition of a contemporary smash: a smash denotes a drink containing a spirit, smashed or muddled herb, and some form of fruit, either smashed with the herb or used as a garnish.

I welcome alternatives, comments, and further education (preferably over ice).

Happy Friday, all!

Rye Whiskey Smash

1 teaspoon sugar

5 or so mint leaves

3 maraschino cherries (real ones, and more for garnish if you wish)

3 ounces rye whiskey

squeeze of lemon

1 small mint sprig for garnish

Combine the sugar, mint, and 3 cherries in a cocktail shaker. Thoroughly muddle them. (Pulverize them in a mortar if you wish.) Add the rye to the shaker and muddle some more.

Mom

I liked your recipe!..wish I had had it in time for the Derby..just lacking the Mint not easy to find here..I think I’ll take my Mint in a Mojita
Now how about a drink for the next two Big races? Preakness and Belmont or Pimlico..Bet on California Chrome ALL THE WAY!

Templeton makes a great Manhattan, but then so does Bulleit. If you want to get into the aether, check out Hochstadter’s Slow & Low Rock and Rye. (http://www.drinkslowandlow.com/) High West’s ‘Son of BouRye’ is another new favorite, making a perfect blend of Bourbon and Rye Whiskies to make a truly memorable cocktail.

Its like you read my mind! You seem to know so much about this, like you wrote the book in it or something.
I think that you can do with a few pics to drive the message home a little bit, but
instead of that, this is great blog. A fantastic read.
I will certainly be back.

Howdy! This blog post could not be written much better!
Reading through this post reminds me of my previous roommate!
He always kept preaching about this. I am going to send this post to him.
Pretty sure he’ll have a good read. Thanks for sharing!

It is perfect time to make some plans for the future and it’s time to be happy.
I have read this post and if I could I want to suggest you
some interesting things or suggestions. Maybe you could write next articles referring to this article.
I desire to read even more things about it!